Why Yahoo's 'one billion' user hack has been met with scepticism - and why it shouldn't be

Yahoo has announced it believes hackers stole personal data from more than one billion user accounts in a cyber attack in 2013.

The news comes after it announced earlier this year that a separate hack in 2014 had allowed information from 500 million users to be released, but some members of the public have been quick to question the numbers.

I mean, my first thought upon hearing a billion people had their Yahoo account hacked was: a billion people have a Yahoo account? Billion?

Well, in short, no. According to a report from Business Insider earlier this year, before both hacks were admitted to, Yahoo does indeed have a billion users, with over 600 million monthly users on their mobiles.

(Niall Carson/PA)

Despite its value peaking at around 20 times what it is now back in the early 00s, Yahoo is still a multi-billion dollar company.

Of course, despite the numbers, many are still in disbelief over the hack and have been left wondering - why was I signed up to Yahoo again?

Most disturbing thing about this security breach email notification from Yahoo is that I apparently once had a Yahoo account.